


with dull knives and white hands

by blackkat



Series: Horoscope Drabbles [44]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:31:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17458049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: If there’s a heaven above the glow of the dust clouds, Kagami has never seen it.





	with dull knives and white hands

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Normal Horoscopes on Tumblr:
> 
> Taurus: They say that heaven orbits above the glowing dust clouds. Tales of polybutane angels that patrol the skies. Seraphs that keep watch for trespassers.

If there’s a heaven above the glow of the dust clouds, Kagami has never seen it.

There are stories, of course—it feels like there are always stories. A friend of a friend of a friend saw an angel once, bright and glowing through the toxins in the sky,  a perfect figure of glowing ploybutane. They’re meant to keep trespassers out of heaven. Kagami has heard the tales, always, but—

He’s never seen one before. The angels stay hidden, and whatever heaven lies beyond the clouds stays entirely separate from the one below, and that’s how Kagami has always accepted things.

Except, here and now, there’s an angel falling towards him, out of the glowing dust. Kagami catches sight of it out of the corner of his eye, a streak of fire across the deserted road, and instinct has him wrenching his speeder sideways, riding out the tumble it takes before it skids to a stop. For one terrifying instant he thinks he’s too close, directly in the flightpath, but then there’s a great burst of chemical fire, a thousand shifting colors, and whatever is tangled around the angel goes spinning away. The angel himself surges up, half-there gaseous wings snapping open in a sudden rush, and it’s just enough lift to send him skimming over the speeder, the speed of his passage ruffling Kagami’s hair in a burst.

Kagami hears the impact as he hits the ground, sees the attacking thing crumple and curl as it burns, striking the ground a distance away. For a mad moment, he thinks about righting the speeder and just leaving, racing back to the outpost as fast as the engine will take him. but—

He risks a glance over, and the angel isn't moving.

Breathing a curse, Kagami flings himself off the speeder, wrenching his helmet off and running to the angel’s side. The thing he was fighting looks like some kind of serpent, with scales like crushed datacrystals, but it’s very clearly dying, writhing in the dirt as the fire eats at it. In contrast the angel is perfectly still, pale skin streaked with red, and if his chest is rising Kagami can't see it.

He doesn’t have the faintest idea if angels breathe, or if they have a pulse, but he drops to his knees beside the angel regardless, pressing his fingers to a pale throat­—

Instantly, there's a surge of muscle and motion. Kagami yelps as he goes spilling onto his back, the angel on top of him with eyes like crimson afterburners in the distance, a snarl on his mouth. Kagami throws his hands up on instinct, bracing for a blow, but it never comes.

Hesitant, he opens one eye to find the angel staring down at him, set against the backdrop of the spinning, glowing clouds in the sky. He looks feral, fey, and the indistinct image of his wings seems to burn in the arid air, spread out above them.

“That was not an attack,” he says sharply, suspiciously.

“No!” Kagami protests, opening his other eye as well. “I just wanted to see if you were still alive, I swear!”

One white brow rises, but before the angel can answer there's a crackle, electricity across metal, and the smell of ozone. The angel stiffens, raising his head, and rises to his feet, dragging Kagami up along with him.

“Go,” he orders. “I won't be able to hold them off forever.”

Before he can pull away, Kagami catches his elbow, staggers a step after him, and it’s madness but— “Then that’s all the more reason to let me help!” he says. “I have a pulse rifle, I can fight. And you're _hurt_.”

The angel gives him an odd look, as though Kagami has taken him by surprise. “I am not human,” he says, as though the nebulous, iridescent cloud of his wings doesn’t prove that well enough.

“So?” Kagami asks fiercely. “That doesn’t mean I'm going to leave you to _die_.”

There's a long pause, and then the angel snorts. He holds out a hand, and with something between relief and determination Kagami takes it. The seraph’s skin feels smooth, cool, but it leaves an impression of heat against Kagami's hand even so. “I am Tobirama,” he says, and then, “Thank you.”

Kagami grins back, and the buried wonder of this whole mess is rising, bubbling up through his chest. “I'm Kagami,” he returns. “And you're welcome.”


End file.
